Who's Comodifying John Galt?

If you’ve ever wandered into a Lululemon store or perused the website of this purveyor of ultra-hip “yoga-inspired” athletic apparel, you may have noticed that the company is not trying to sell merely a pair of buttocks-compressing pants but a worldview. Even in this age of lifestyle peddlers, when Abercrombie & Fitch lures mall rats with visions of Ivy League insouciance and Apple promises to turn even your clueless dad into a tech-savvy aesthete, Lululemon stands out. Why buy a plain old gym bag when for $128 you can have a Destined for Greatness Duffel? If you’re shopping online, the “lululemon manifesto” page offers a stylish collage of aphorisms, such as “Do one thing a day that scares you” and “Creativity is maximized when you're living in the moment.” A section devoted to Lululemon “ambassadors”—most of whom seem to be yoga instructors who wear Lulu gear and recommend it to their clients—reads like a series of conversion testimonies by true believers who want “to share this life changing experience”—that would be yoga—“with others.”